A Shiver of Becoming

A preface to The Songs of Becoming, a series

I sink into the forest’s pulse  

where trees murmur in root-tongues,  

skin thrumming quiet thunder  

the air thick with breath I didn’t take  

it tastes of gold and something more  

I can’t name - my bones are listening  

slip into the stillness, this lake  

this womb of sky, the world’s first word  

it swallows me like a secret  

the water births its own reflection,  

a mirror rippling in my hands  

each touch, a shiver of becoming  

I drink the dark, it tastes like forever  

like stars before they were born  

curling in the corners of my mouth  

I am cradled, unwound, undone  

silt soft beneath the skin I thought was mine  

or wasn’t - it shifts, it grows  

my blood resonates with untold truths

the roots, the leaves - they sing inside  

I feel their edges carving me  

time bends its head in reverence here  

I breathe the lake, the lake breathes back  

a thousand lives bloom in my chest  

I cannot tell where I begin  

the water whispers womb-deep sighs  

and I become the soil, the sky  

limbs untangled, heart unstitched  

I float in the first breath of creation  

and taste the slick foreverspin.  

Reviews

[Twilight]

Various references to the womb and swallowing, in this piece. Cleverly, the writer seems somehow to have added an erotic touch - to the very act of birth itself. Also, concepts of time and perception are touched upon; and it's a read which leaves me curious. And yet, also yearning for more. Nature's mystery is also referenced, through the mentions of "creation" and "forever spin". Our Earth will forever spin, in a timeless fashion. Perhaps, the natural cycle of birth, growth and ultimately becoming at one with nature (when we die and return to the soil); is another incarnation of "forever spin"..?

[Anne Martin]

As I said in my notes, this is the preface to my Songs of Becoming at https://jessicanoire.wordpress.com/. That series might interest you, especially the ones after the songs. (Remember they are in reverse order and I've got them queued up into next weekend.)

[Twilight]

I see. Yes, noticed in your notes that this was intended as a preface to The Songs Of Becoming; and quite enjoyed Out Of The Frying Pan. You're welcome to remind me, though.